memeorandum: Podesta ‘encourages’ journalists to ask Hillary about UFOs (Kyle Olson/The American Mirror)

6:35 PM ET, March 3, 2016

Top Items:

Shane Goldmacher / Politico:

Rubio's path to an outright win has vanished — Marco Rubio's path to the Republican nomination short of a contested convention has narrowed to nearly nothing as his campaign and allies reboot their strategy to prepare for months of guerrilla warfare to deny Donald Trump a clean, pre-convention victory.

Politico:

Full transcript: Mitt Romney's remarks on Donald Trump and the 2016 race — Below are Mitt Romney's full remarks on Donald Trump and the 2016 presidential race, as prepared for delivery. Romney delivered his remarks at the University of Utah. — I am not here to announce my candidacy for office.

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Monthly, Bloomberg Business, American Spectator, No More Mister Nice Blog, National Review, The Moderate Voice, The Atlantic, NPR, The Other McCain and Mashable

TIME:

Read Mitt Romney's Speech About Donald Trump — Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney made the case against Donald Trump in Utah Thursday. — Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney made the case against Donald Trump in Utah Thursday.

Discussion: Townhall.com, Washington Post, New York Times, neo-neocon, TheStreet.com, AMERICAblog NewsAMERICAblog …, Outside the Beltway and Instapundit

Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:

Romney to Republicans: Never Trump — Mitt Romney opened a new front in the Republican Party's civil war on Thursday, going after Donald Trump in a salt-the-earth speech that eviscerated the Republican front-runner as lacking the temperament, business record and substantive policies to occupy the White House.

CNN:

First on CNN: Team Romney explores blocking Trump at RNC — Washington (CNN)Mitt Romney has instructed his closest advisers to explore the possibility of stopping Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention, a source close to Romney's inner circle says.

Discussion: The Right Scoop and Hot Air

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Gushing Romney Accepts Trump Endorsement — In some ways Mitt Romney's emergence as Twitter elder snarksman of the Republican party is stranger than Donald Trump's emergence as frontrunner. His speech today is obviously meant to be a weightier affair, a graver denunciation of Trump and Trumpism.

Discussion: The Week

Michelle Conlin / Reuters:

Exclusive: Koch brothers will not use funds to try to block Trump nomination — The Koch brothers, the most powerful conservative mega donors in the United States, will not use their $400 million political arsenal to try to block Republican front-runner Donald Trump's path to the presidential nomination …

Discussion: CNN and The Week

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:

Mitt Romney is doing Donald Trump a BIG favor by attacking him — How Trump threw out the GOP playbook on Planned Parenthood — Mitt Romney will savage Donald Trump as deeply dishonest and fundamentally unelectable in a much-touted speech in Utah today, an attempt by the 2012 Republican …

Discussion: New York Times, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times and Talking Points Memo

Shane Goldmacher / Politico:
Romney speech shows why Trump is winning

Discussion: Washington Post, ABC News, New York Magazine and Political Wire

War on the Rocks:
Open Letter on Donald Trump from GOP National Security Leaders

Washington Post:
Mitt Romney: ‘Trump is a phony, a fraud’ who is ‘playing the American public for suckers’

Discussion: Investor's Business Daily, CBS News, RedState, Politico, Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgressPage Array, Mother Jones and TownhallReview.com

Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:
Trump again threatens independent bid

Discussion: RedState, New York Magazine and Daily Kos

Olivier Knox / Yahoo Politics:
Mitt Romney tells Donald Trump voters they're ‘suckers’

Discussion: Politico and Hinckley Institute

Tom LoBianco / CNN:
Donald Trump: Mitt Romney ‘would have dropped to his knees’ for my endorsement

Discussion: Politico, ABC News, Breitbart, Infowars, The Gateway Pundit, Little Green Footballs, Mashable, Fox 59, NPR.org, WTVR-TV, The Daily Caller, New York Magazine, fox13now.com, KTLA, Western Journalism and Washington Post

Mitt Romney:
My remarks on the state of the 2016 presidential race

Discussion: The Last Refuge, The Atlantic, Guardian, Vox, Washington Post, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Hullabaloo, The Daily Caller and Politico

Eliza Collins / Politico:
Trump punches back at ‘choke artist’ Romney

Discussion: ABC News, Hit & Run and The Daily Caller

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times: A Wounded Marco Rubio Falls Back to Florida

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
Mitt Romney Pulls No Punches In Major Speech Trashing Donald Trump

Discussion: Balloon Juice

mccain.senate.gov:
STATEMENT BY SASC CHAIRMAN JOHN McCAIN ON STATE OF THE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY CAMPAIGN

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, New York's PIX11, Yahoo Politics and BostonGlobe.com

McKay Coppins / BuzzFeed:
How Mitt Romney Decided To Take On Donald Trump

Discussion: Hot Air

Eli Stokols / Politico:
Kasich vows to win Ohio, fight on to convention

Discussion: ABC News, Political Wire and Washington Post

Associated Press:
Romney calling Trump ‘phony,’ urging Republicans to shun him

Discussion: Associated Press, ABC News, Gothamist, Guardian, Algemeiner.com, Right Wing Watch, New York Times, The Hugh Hewitt ShowThe …, The American Mirror, Chronicle-Telegram, 2016 Election Central and WATE-TV

Inae Oh / Mother Jones:
Watch Mitt Romney Attempt to Tear Down “Phony” Donald Trump

Discussion: KFOR-TV, Fusion, 12NewsNow.Com, Infowars, Slantpoint, news9.com KWTV, WCBD News 2 and Politico

Oliver Darcy / TheBlaze.com:
Sean Hannity Goes Scorched Earth Against Marco Rubio

Discussion: rubber hose and Western Journalism

Timothy Cama / The Hill:

Chief justice rejects plea to block air pollution rule — Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rejected a plea Thursday to block a contentious air pollution rule for power plants, in a big victory for the Obama administration. — Roberts's order came despite his court's 5-4 decision …

Discussion: New York Times, The Daily Caller, Western Journalism, Hot Air and The Bob and Chez Show

Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:

The Women Take Over — In oral arguments for the Texas abortion case, the three female justices upend the Supreme Court's balance of power. — When the Supreme Court last heard oral arguments in a landmark abortion case, it was April 1992, the case was Planned Parenthood v Casey, and Sandra Day O'Connor was the lone female justice.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, MSNBC, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Jezebel, Off the Kuff, Hullabaloo, Balloon Juice, Shakesville, SCOTUSblog, Mother Jones, The Huffington Post, ACS Blog and ThinkProgressPage Array

David French / National Review:
The Abortion Industry Survives by Endangering Women's Lives

Discussion: addictinginfo.org, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Houston Public Media and Washington Post

Skagit Valley Herald / Goskagit.com:

Man accidentally kills himself while taking photos with gun — A 43-year-old Concrete man died Sunday after accidentally shooting himself in the face with what he thought was an unloaded gun. — The man and his girlfriend were at a residence in the 46000 block of Baker Loop Road taking photos …

Discussion: Associated Press, Death and TaxesDeath and Taxes, Raw Story, CBS New York, WNEP-TV, Fox 59 and Q13 FOX News

Fox News:

FBI investigating if Clinton aides shared passwords to access classified info — EXCLUSIVE: The FBI is investigating whether computer passwords were shared among Hillary Clinton's close aides to determine how sensitive intelligence “jumped the gap” between the classified systems …

Discussion: Power Line, Hot Air and Washington Free Beacon

Mark Finkelstein / NewsBusters:
Former AG Rejects VandeHei Suggestion Hillary Wouldn't Be Charged in Email Probe

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

Adam Goldman / Washington Post:
Justice Dept. grants immunity to staffer who set up Clinton email server

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:

Charles Grassley Faces Formidable Challenger in Iowa Senate Race — WASHINGTON — With Senator Charles E. Grassley under attack for his handling of the Supreme Court nomination process, a formidable Democratic challenger will run against him this November, the most significant sign yet …

Discussion: Des Moines Register, Talking Points Memo, Guardian, Daily Kos, WQAD-TV, Independent Journal Review, Politicus USA, Trail Blazers Blog and Business Insider

Sabato's Crystal Ball:
The Trumpmare: Can the Republicans Save the Senate?

Discussion: New York Times

Peter Beinart / The Atlantic:

The Violence to Come — What will happen to American politics if, as now appears likely, the Republican Party nominates Donald Trump? Here's one bet: It will get more violent. — The United States is headed toward a confrontation, the likes of which it has not seen since 1968 …

Discussion: Mother Jones, National Review, alicublog, Vox and Booman Tribune

Dawn Ennis / Advocate:

She Is Cait, and I Am Not: Face to Face with Jenner — Winding my way 'round deadman's curves at unsafe speeds all the way up a Malibu mountaintop to meet Caitlyn Jenner, I asked myself: who would live here except a recluse? Cut off from the rest of the world, high above it all …

Discussion: ThinkProgressPage Array, The Daily Caller, LAist, Towleroad, Trail Blazers Blog and Mediaite

Kyle Olson / The American Mirror:

Podesta ‘encourages’ journalists to ask Hillary about UFOs — Democrat operative John Podesta is so obsessed with what the government knows about aliens and UFOs, he has actually asked reporters to question his candidate on the fringe subject. — The shocking revelation comes from an interview …

Geoff Earle / New York Post:
8 reasons we need to start preparing for President Trump

Discussion: Western Journalism

Alexandra Alper / Reuters:

Mexico says won't pay for Trump's ‘terrible’ border wall — MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - There is no way Mexico would fund Donald Trump's “terrible” plan to build a wall along its border with the United States if the Republican front-runner wins the U.S. presidential election, the Mexican finance minister said.

Discussion: CNN and Vox Popoli

Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press: Mexican Govt: We ‘Categorically’ Refuse To Pay For Trump's Border Wall

Monique Morrissey / Economic Policy Institute:

The State of American Retirement: How 401(k)s have failed most American workers — Overview — Today, many Americans rely on savings in 401(k)-type accounts to supplement Social Security in retirement. This is a pronounced shift from a few decades ago, when many retirees could count on predictable …

Discussion: American Prospect, Campaign for America's Future and ThinkProgressPage Array

Dan Tuohy / UnionLeader.com:

DeLemus supporters sing ‘God Bless America’ at court appearance — New Hampshire Union Leader — Federal agents have arrested Jerry DeLemus, a local Tea Party leader who stood with Cliven Bundy's armed resistance at his ranch in Nevada in 2014, in connection with the standoff and alleged assault.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Tony Schinella / Portsmouth, NH Patch:
Tea Party Activist, Trump Supporter Jerry DeLemus Arrested

Discussion: Balloon Juice, U.S. Uncut, Raw Story, addictinginfo.org and Hit & Run

John Branch / New York Times:

Brandi Chastain to Donate Her Brain for C.T.E. Research — SAN JOSE, Calif. — The retired soccer player Brandi Chastain remains best known for scoring the winning shootout goal in the 1999 World Cup final against China and for the jersey-shedding celebration that followed.

Discussion: USA Today, The Week, NPR, The Daily Caller, Deadspin and State of Health